As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us

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" Human beings through history have formulated many different names

and forms for the Divine or Eternal. Just as we have many names and

forms for other things, whether it is foods, or types of art, so too,

in religion a similar great diversity has been created.

 

The Western world has prided itself in monotheism, the idea that

there is only One God as the highest truth. Western religions have

said that only the names and forms which refer to this One God are

valid but those which appear to worship another God, or a

multiplicity of divinities, must be false. They have restricted the

names and forms they use in religious worship, and insist that only

one set is true and correct and others are wrong or unholy.

 

As a universal formulation Hinduism accepts all formulations of

Truth. According to the universal view there is only One Reality, but

it cannot be limited to a particular name or form. Though Truth is

One it is also Universal, not an exclusive formulation. It is an

inclusive, not an exclusive Oneness - a spiritual reality of Being-

Consciousness-Bliss, which could be called God but which transcends

all names. The different Gods and Goddesses of Hinduism represent

various functions of this One Supreme Divinity, and are not separate

Gods. " 1

 

The same Supreme Divinity (Brahman) resides within all humans.

Christianity reflects the same Oneness that is the foundation of

Hinduism:

 

 

John 17:20-26

 

Jesus prayed for his disciples, and then he said. " I ask not only on

behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me

through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in

me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may

believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I

have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them

and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world

may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have

loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me,

may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me

because you loved me before the foundation of the world. " Righteous

Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know

that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will

make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be

in them, and I in them. "

 

 

1. Mundaka Upanishad 1:1:7-8

 

As the web issues out of the spider, and is withdrawn;

As plants sprout from the earth,

As hair grows from the body,

Even so, the sages say,

This universe springs from the deathless Atman [= Brahman].

The source of life.

 

 

2. Shvetashvatara Upanishad 4:5

 

From Brahman's divine power comes forth

All this magical show of name and form;

Of you and me,

Which casts the spell of pain and pleasure.

Only when we pierce through this magic veil

Do we see the One who appears as many.

 

 

3. Shvetashvatara Upanishad 4:11

 

Know Brahman to be the supreme magician

Who has become boy and girl, bird and beast.

 

 

4. Mundaka Upanishad 3:1:2-3

 

As long as we think we are the jiva,

We feel attached and fall into sorrow.

But realize that you are the Atman,

And you will be freed from sorrow.

When you realize that you are the Atman,

Supreme source of light, supreme source of love,

You transcend the duality of life

And enter into the Unitive State.

 

 

5. Taitiriya Upanishad 2:7:1

 

When one realizes the Atman,

In whom all life is one, changeless, nameless, formless,

Then one fears no more.

Until we realize the unity of life we life in fear.

For the mere scholar who knows not the Atman,

His separateness becomes fear itself.

 

 

6. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2:4:12

 

As a lump of salt thrown in water dissolves

And cannot be taken out again,

Though wherever we taste the water it is salty,

Even so, beloved, the separate self [= the jiva] dissolves

In the sea of pure consciousness [= the Atman = Brahman], infinite

and immortal.

 

 

7. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4:4:5

 

The Atmanis indeed Brahman.

But through ignorance people identify it with

Intellect, mind, senses, passions [= the jiva],

And the elements of earth, water, air, space, and fire.

This is why the Atman is said to consist of this and that,

And appears to be everything.

 

 

8. Chandogya Upanishad 6:2:2-3

 

In the beginning was only Being [= Brahman].

One without a second.

Out of himself he brought forth the cosmos

And entered into everything in it.

There is nothing that does not come from him.

Of everything Brahman is the inmost Atman.

He is the truth; he is the Atman supreme.

And you are that, Shvetaketu; you are that (tat tsam asi).

 

 

9. Kena Upanishad 1:3:4

 

Brahman our eyes cannot see, nor words express;

He cannot be grasped even by the mind.

We do not know, we cannot understand,

Because he is different from the known

And he is different from the unknown.

Thus have we heard from the illumined ones.

 

 

 

1. www.hindunet.org